After a month and a half of struggles, the Miners get a bye week, a chance to get better and sort out what's gone wrong.

It's a long list and about all UTEP can do at this point is go to work. They do it with some optimism, that superb second and third quarters against Tulsa on Saturday marked the beginning of a turnaround and a light turned on that can apply to the rest of the season.

"Time will tell," defensive coordinator Scott Stoker said. "We're trying to change a mindset with the UTEP defense. That takes a little bit of time. We were better tackling. We were better in space (against Tulsa).

"For a long period of time, they haven't been good at defense and that was acceptable. It's not going to be acceptable now. It's a mindset."

There certainly is plenty of room to get better. UTEP, now 1-5, ranks 107th out of 123 teams nationally in total defense, 113th in scoring defense, 117th in rushing defense and dead last in pass efficiency defense. This has come against a schedule of teams who are a combined 5-26 when they aren't playing UTEP, 5-1 when they are.

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What the Miners did see is some progress after another slow start against Tulsa. After scoring on the first play of the second quarter, the Golden Hurricane only had one significant drive the rest of the game, which was a game-clinching touchdown. Other than that, there were a string of three-and-outs that UTEP hopes it can build on.

"We tackled much better," linebacker Horace Miller said. "We've got to eliminate assignment mistakes and penalties. Before we can work on opponents, we have to work on ourselves. Some players are trying to do too much. We just have to do our jobs."

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"We did a better job tackling," safety Wesley Miller said. "We did a better job being aggressive and physical. We had under double-digit missed tackles for the first time all season.

"It's definitely going in the right direction. That's what we want to do every day, improve."

Some of that will have to come in recruiting, and that's where the staff was heading starting today. But, there is still half a season left for the current players to keep getting better, something that should be happening as the players become more familiar with a completely new system they didn't start learning until August.

"We started playing well (against Tulsa) as a team. We were making plays," end James Davidson said. "We're starting to get a better feel with the defense. We have to keep practicing hard, have really good work ethics. It's been hard, (learning a new defense) as fast as we had to, but with hard work it's coming along."

"We're getting more comfortable with the defense," tackle Marcus Bagley said. "Some people don't realize we just started this six weeks ago. It's game six and people are starting to get more comfortable."